Metal has a huge string of guitar players who completely destroy and own the stage as though nothing else mattered. Lets talk about three guitarists who influenced the sound of heavy metal, and how they still impact on the genre even today.

  • Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads was remembered more for his work with ex Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne rather than the LA band Quiet Riot. Randy helped to write Ozzy classics such as ‘Crazy train’ and ‘Dee’. Rhodes had a classical playing background, encorporating much of it into his work in the two albums that he played on for Ozzy. Randys work can be seen on the Ozzy albums ‘Blizzard of Oz’ and ‘Diary of a madman’. It is believed that Rhoades would’ve gone on to leave the band to study classical guitar at UCLA, and he would seek out classical guitar tutors on tour with Ozzy to keep up his knowledge and playing skill. The specialist guitars that Jackson had made for him are extremely popular with metal guitar players. Rhoads lost his life in a plane crash in 1982 and guitar playing and character has been paid tribute to numerous times throughout the years.
  • Chuck Schuldiner. Main songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of pioneering metal band ‘Death’. Hailed as the father of the death metal subgenre, a term he himself wasnt comfortable with, Chuck was a huge influence on many guitar players and extreme metal. the first Death album ’scream bloody gore’, is often thought of as a template for the sub genre of death metal, but each new release saw Deaths sound progress onward from that. Death release a further 4 albums with the band, ‘Human, ‘Spiritual healing’,'Symbolic’ and ‘The sound of perseverance’ before folding Death to play guitar for ‘Control denied’, which released ‘The fragile art of exsistance’ in 1999. Chuck Schulidner died after a long battle with cancer in 2001, which saw the metal community unite many a time to try and raise funds for his surgery.
  • Darrell Lance Abbott -’Dimebag’. Guitarist of the infamous Pantera later of Damageplan and also played guitar on the country band rebel meets rebel. Pantea began as a ‘glam metal’ band in Texas in 1981, but thier sound changed dramatically and 1989s ‘Cowboys from hell’ album saw them becoming heavier, with a groove in their sound. Thier next album 1992’s ‘Vulgar display of power’ was the band breakthrough album, featuring the songs ‘this love’,'walk’, and ‘a new level’. The next album ‘Far beyond driven’ reached the top of the US charts at a time when metal wasnt considered ‘popular’. Pantera also released ‘Greater Southern Trendkill’ and ‘Re-inventing the steel’, after which Pantera split, as bassist Rex Brown and vocalist Phil Anselmo went off to do ‘Down’ and ‘Superjoint ritual’ and Dimebag and his brother and drummer Vinnie Paul created ‘Damageplan’. While playing onstage with Damageplan in Dec 2004, Dimebag was shot and died instantly. His sound is still seen in alot of bands today- ‘Lamb of god’ are an example of this.

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